Tzavaras

According to genealogical researchers the surname Tzavaras (Greek: Τζαβάρας) can be classified as of patronymic / nickname origin.

It is either the Hellenization of the Albanian word çanavar which means "monster" or "brave", but within a historical context would signify “mercenary” and later on “janissary”; or a Byzantine compound surname made up of the prefix dia (tza), with a general meaning of “through”, but here understood as “origin” or “from”; and the term baros meaning “heavy”, but signifying “strong”.^[1]

Origin

The origin of this modern

But little after Pavle Orlovic's death fighting the Ottoman army in the Battle of Kosovo Polje, along with the end of the Serbian Empire, Novo Brdo finally fell on June 1. 1455. In the escape the majority chose the Kingdom of Hungary,^[3] where the core of the Serbian nobility had gathered to resist.^[4]

Others instead fled to Epirus,^[5] where the admixture with local populations gives birth to the Tzavareoi (Greek: Τζαβαραίοι) clan or “phara”.^[6]

The clan was to be again on the move. Some members had integrated into the

• Stavros Tzavaras also known as “Hadji-Stavros”, a local chieftain who fought in the
  Bavarian regency, inspirator of the Roi des Montagnes novel and mentioned in The Dilessi Murders book by Romilly Jenkins.^[11]
• Gotsis Tzavaras, a kapetanios of the Greek War of Independence originally from Dara Mantineias in Arcadia, who took part in the capture of Tripolis and was appointed as elector for the Peloponnesian Senate in 1822.^[12]
• Stylianos Tzavaras, from Louka Mantineias in Arcadia, who together with a band of
  Sarakatsan and Vlach irregulars contributed to the defeat the Turkish army at the Battle of Mouzaki (March 1878) as part of the Wars of Liberation of Western Thessaly.^[13]
• Prokopios Tzavaras, metropolitan of Megalopolis, Gortyna, Mantinea and Korinthia who helped effectively in the hiding of British and ANZAC soldiers, as well as political and religious refugees during the
  Second World War and the Greek Civil War.^[14]